The Relationship of Macular Thickness to Clinically Graded Diabetic Retinopathy Severity in Eyes without Clinically Detected Diabetic Macular Edema

Because OCT measurements are gender dependent, gender balance or statistical adjustment for gender imbalances of compared groups in OCT studies of diabetic macular edema is important. As retinopathy severity increases, the probability of subclinical edema rises. Except for an individual baseline measurement possibly useful for longitudinal comparison, the data suggest that there is little reason routinely to obtain OCT in eyes with diabetes and no retinopathy or mild to moderate diabetic retinopathy when clinical examination fails to show macular edema.